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I'm moving into a building with a central dish on the roof for every unit in the complex. Seemingly, the company that manages the dish, wiring and other equipment in the building is completely and utterly incompetent. See here:

31 one star Yelp reviews as well as a general raking over the internet coals doesn't make me particularly confident in handing them my credit card number. They rent washing machines, for God's sake.

This may mean that I'm going to have to break my contract with D* (after just a few months) and eat the ETF. Needless to say, I'm not happy about this prospect. I really enjoy my D* and would prefer to keep it if I can.

I don't know a whole lot about the system in the building (yet) but there are a couple of dishes on the roof; one of them looks like an older dish and the other is a slimline. That's all I've got to go on right now.

What are your thoughts? Think I could get a local (socal) installer to come out and do things the right way? Suck it up and pay the ETF?

I'm moving into a building with a central dish on the roof for every unit in the complex. Seemingly, the company that manages the dish, wiring and other equipment in the building is completely and utterly incompetent. See here:

31 one star Yelp reviews as well as a general raking over the internet coals doesn't make me particularly confident in handing them my credit card number. The rent washing machines, for God's sake.

This may mean that I'm going to have to break my contract with D* (after just a few months) and eat the ETF. Needless to say, I'm not happy about this prospect. I really enjoy my D* and would prefer to keep it if I can.

I don't know a whole lot about the system in the building (yet) but there are a couple of dishes on the roof; one of them looks like an older dish and the other is a slimline. That's all I've got to go on right now.

What are your thoughts? Think I could get a local (socal) installer to come out and do things the right way? Suck it up and pay the ETF?

My thoughts are if this company is so bad, and it appears they are, why not move somewhere else where you do not have to deal with them?

Clearly, this company has some issues, and I'm in NO way excusing those, but many of the complaints stem from the fact that MDU setups are simply not as flexible as your own home setup, and thus some features and services are not available. That is true of many aspects of living in an apartment vs. your own home, and expectations need to be adjusted.

But as the previous poster noted, you could avoid all this by choosing another apartment. And let the apartment manager know why you did so - that is the kind of feedback that gets the apartment management to get the company (CSS in this case) in gear.

All sound ideas - but let's assume, again in theory, that I'm moving to this apartment building because *I* am, in fact, becoming the manager there.

What say you now?

(not someone with the ability to swap out satellite providers, sadly)

I'd say the company doesn't necessarily know you don't have that power. Glower. Rattle sabers. Etc. Unless, of course, the guy who runs that company is the brother-in-law/cousin/golf buddy of the guy who owns the building you're managing (and he might be --that could be how he keeps the contract when his service sucks), the chances are pretty decent that company won't know you're bluffing.

And in fact, if you get interactive with them then you build the case to take to your bosses to get rid of these jerks if they don't shape up. If nothing else, that might get you enough respect/fear from them that they are sure to handle *your* account with care.

"Power" doesn't actually come from an org chart. Knowing the org chart is helpful, of course, but it is only a start. Sometimes this fact work for you, and sometimes against you.

All sound ideas - but let's assume, again in theory, that I'm moving to this apartment building because *I* am, in fact, becoming the manager there.

What say you now?

(not someone with the ability to swap out satellite providers, sadly)

As the manager, I'm sure you could put pressure on them to get into the 21st century. Do what georule suggested as well. Poll the tenants and find out what their complaints are. Ask the unhappy tenants to write letters to your local rag. Some tenants might not know that they aren't getting what they could.